


Heart of the Forest

by yeehaw7



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: M/M, because I felt like it, cryptid AU, hen is a shapeshifter of sorts, same age au, ted's just a regular dude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 11:57:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19829713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yeehaw7/pseuds/yeehaw7
Summary: shapeshifter hen au





	Heart of the Forest

**Author's Note:**

> shoutout to the tedgens server who are convinced ted is a monsterfucker and i mean they're not wrong
> 
> i thought of this ages ago and just.... forgot to write it besides the first paragraph but i sat down this week and Got It Done 
> 
> sorry it seems so fast and "fall in love at first sight"-ish but y'know we gotta have happy endings around here. normally i'd be happy to continue fics if people want me to and i love y'all but istg if you ask for another chapter i might just explode. however i'm still accepting requests over on @ariatorulethemall on tumblr so if you want a oneshot based on this au i'd be happy to oblige it's just,, i wouldn't be able to continue with this plot as it is!
> 
> feel free to tell me what you thought!

To be quite honest, Ted didn’t know what he was doing, knee deep in underbrush, trees framing the sky above him. But that was alright; anything was better than being back home. 

He made his way forward, tugging at the weeds that were sticking to his shoes. He was angry, at least he thought he was. He wasn’t sure, the churning emotions in his gut were too complicated to analyse, and so in typical Ted fashion, he left them to sort themselves out. Not that they would. 

After a while of stomping through the underbrush, he came into a clearing. It seemed peaceful enough, and he was tired from a day of school and then the typical round of arguments at home. He checked his watch. 6:29pm. He had time to kill before his mum would expect him to be back home. 

He didn’t so much sit down as fall down. The ground was firm, the grass covered in a light film of water from the rain a couple days ago. Evidently, this patch didn’t get sun too often. 

Ted turned his head skyward and let his eyes unfocus, staring blankly at the sky that was beginning to turn shades of grey as the sun began its descent. Eventually his restless mind prompted for something more stimulating, so he sat up again and grabbed a handful of grass, beginning to weave the long blades together. 

He heard a cough from opposite him and jumped. Looking up, he saw a tall man, something close to 6ft, standing on the other side of the small clearing. The man smiled. 

“I would go home if I were you.”

Ted snorted. “And why not? You gonna call the cops because I picked some grass?”

The man shifted slightly, uncomfortable with Ted’s tone of voice. “Just go home.”

Ted looked directly into his eyes, hoping to unsettle him further. “I’m not in the mood to be playing games, whoever you are. I came here for some peace and quiet.” He tied the ends of the grass together and began on another braid, his hands begging for activity. 

The man winced. “Sorry, kid,” he said. “But this is private property, and I don’t exactly enjoy having people on my land.” 

Ted raised an eyebrow. He wasn’t budging, even if this guy did call the cops. 

After a few moments of silence, the guy threw his hands up in a helpless gesture. 

“Alright, kid, you get what you want. But don’t say I didn’t try to get you to leave when he comes.”

He turned around and walked back the way he came, towards a ute parked on a dirt track not that far away. Ted chuckled at the weak final attempt to get him to shift. 

“Yeah, right, be all mysterious and shit. I’m not going anywhere.”

The light began to disappear faster, the onset of night coming ever closer. Before long, Ted could lean his head back and see the stars, plus the odd blinking light from planes travelling to and from the big city nearby. He lay back into the grass again, keeping his hands busy by adding more and more grass braids to the pile by his hip. It was late now, he didn’t need light to look at his watch to know that. He still didn’t want to go home. 

Something above him and to the right flashed. He sat up, looking around. Nothing. 

_Must’ve been my mind tricking me. I’m probably tired_ , he thought. 

He lay back down again, but a couple seconds later, he saw it again. He sat up. 

_Okay, that time it was something._

Carefully, slowly, he reached his hand into his pocket for his phone, before switching on the flashlight function and shining it into the trees. 

A pair of eyes shone back. 

He shrieked and dropped his phone into the grass. He began to get up, but a voice called out.

“Wait!”

He hesitated, reaching for his phone again. 

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” came the voice. “It’s just… been a while since I’ve talked to anyone my age.”

A figure stepped out from the trees, the moon providing just enough light for Ted to see the rough edges of him. His eyes shone, something human eyes should never do, but the rest of him seemed human enough. Ted shrugged. Maybe he had weird contacts or something. But then again, what was that about not talking to anyone his age for a while?

“Stand where I can see you,” he called out, the slight tremor in his voice betraying his fear.

The figure stepped forward and Ted picked up his phone, shining the light directly at them. 

In front of him stood an ordinary, regular boy - if you ignored his amber eyes and the spiked tail curling itself around his left leg. 

Ted found himself breathless. “What are you?” he whispered, keeping the torch steady on the boy. 

“If I’m being honest, I’m not quite sure,” came the reply. 

“Well, you’re freaky. How do you have a tail?”

The boy looked down at his foot where the tip of his tail was tapping a steady beat and hurriedly sucked in a breath. The tail seemed to shrink back into his body, much like an electrical cord into a vacuum cleaner. “Sorry. Didn’t realise it was out.”

Ted laughed, but it was more hysterical than from humor. “You can just… retract your tail? The fact that you even have a tail is fucking weird, but you…”

The boy nodded. “I suppose you’d call me a shapeshifter, though that doesn’t fully sum it up.” 

“This has got to be a joke. There’s no way you’re real,” Ted said, opening up his camera app and snapping a photo. It was a little blurry but you could clearly see the glow of the boy’s eyes. 

“I’m almost certain I’m real,” said the boy, “although there is a chance that this is all a simulation, so how can any of us be certain we’re real?”

“Whoa, okay, I didn’t want an existential crisis today. I guess you’re right, though.”

The boy smiled, an action that lit up his face and gave life to his inhuman eyes. Ted, against his better judgement, smiled back. 

“What’s your name?”

“Ted,” Ted said, although in the back of his mind he recalled numerous stories advising to never tell a fairy your real name. He wasn’t entirely sure this boy was a fairy, though. 

“I’m Henry,” the boy said. 

“Really? A guy like you, and your name is _Henry_?”

“I could say the same. Ted’s a boring, middle-aged white man type of name, but you’re certainly not middle-aged and in this light I can’t tell whether you’re white or not.” 

Ted laughed. “Kinda. My family’s from all over the place.”

“Valid. My family’s fully white, all European. Explains the ‘Henry’, I guess.”

“Not to be rude, but you have a family?” Ted asked, curious. “Wait, hold on, I’ll sit down so it looks like we’re conducting a proper conversation.” He sat back down on his flattened spot of grass and watched as Henry cautiously made his way over to him and sat within a metre of him.

“I used to,” Henry said. He stared into the middle distance, giving no signs of continuing. 

Ted didn’t bother poking any more. “That sucks.”

Henry nodded, but stayed silent. 

Ted lay back down again, hands clasped across his stomach, now relatively at ease since this strange mix of creature and boy beside him seemed to be friendly. The stars he could see were the same as they had always been, but with this new discovery he felt as though his entire world had shifted. 

“Do you know the constellations?”

Henry laughed. “Not personally, no.”

Ted snorted. “No, you dumbass. Can you name them? My dad used to tell me which was which, but then he went and… well.”

“Left?”

“Died.”

“I’m sorry,” Henry said. “I know how that feels.” 

“It’s okay. I’m mostly over it. I just miss being able to look at the stars and… y’know, know them.”

“I don’t know all of them, but I can point out a couple.”

Ted turned his head towards Henry, who was sitting with his legs crossed and head tipped back. “Could you?”

Henry shot a glance to where Ted was lying. “Yeah, of course.”

He shuffled a little closer and then lay down beside Ted, who was surprised at the warmth of his body. Their shoulders were barely touching, but Ted could feel the warmth as if there was a space heater beside him, not a person. 

Henry held out an arm, tracing the stars with his finger. “You see that?”

Ted nodded.

“That’s Orion.” 

Ted uttered a triumphant noise. “I thought so but I wasn’t sure.”

“I mean, it is one of the easiest to spot, so if you think you saw it, you probably did.”

“True.”

The pair lay in silence for a second before Henry lifted his arm again. “There’s another one. Can’t remember the name, exactly, but I know it is one.” 

“I wish I could ask Dad.”

Henry made a sound of agreement, then sighed as the pair heard the wind pick up. “That’ll bring the clouds in. Won’t be able to see anything in a minute or two.” 

Sure enough, a couple minutes later, the boys could see a cloud creep into the edge of their line of vision from the east, coming off the sea. 

“Damn,” Henry said. “Well, it’s late, anyway.”

Ted turned on his phone to check the time. “Shit! I need to get home.”

“You live down in the valley?”

“Yeah. Downtown.” 

“I haven’t been down there in a while.”

“You could come with,” Ted said, standing up and wiping the random loose blades of grass off his pants. He slid his phone into his pocket and held out a hand to Henry, who took it. Ted, once again, was surprised at the temperature of Henry’s skin and it wasn’t until he realised Henry was waiting for him to let go of his hand that he realised he was enjoying it. With a sheepish smile, he let go of Henry’s hand and immediately stuck both of his in his pockets. 

The trip back the way Ted had come was slow, mainly because he hadn’t been paying much attention when he came here and now that it was dark, it was even harder to figure out which direction to take. Henry, luckily, once he had realised that Ted had no clue where he was going, took the lead. From there, it was a lot quicker and before he knew it, Ted was standing beneath his bedroom window, Henry Insert-Last-Name the Local Cryptid by his side. 

The wooden box that he usually used to climb back up into his room was gone, so he suspected his mum was well aware that he wasn’t home. He jumped for the ledge of his window and missed, his fingers just shy of latching on. He heard a noise from behind him and turned around. 

“I could lift you, if you want. It wouldn’t be hard,” Henry said.

“I mean, yeah, that would be great,” Ted said. He watched in amazement as Henry stretched out his arms, creating flesh-coloured long appendages (that if he squinted, looked like tentacles) that circled around Ted’s torso and waist. 

“Ready?” Henry asked. Ted couldn’t do anything but nod. 

Once cautiously standing on the ledge of his window, Ted tried to lift the window open. It didn’t budge. Using his phone flashlight, he peered through the window and spotted a brand new lock set in place. He looked back over the edge and gestured for Henry to lift him back down again. 

“Locked?”

“Yeah. My window never used to have a lock, but obviously Mum figured I was gone.”

“Do you sneak out often?”

Ted shook his head, focused on trying to figure out a way in other than knocking on the front door. His mother usually went to bed around 11, and from a quick glance at his phone, he knew it was nearly quarter-past.

“I’ll try the front door. Stay here. If I get in, I’ll signal from my window.”

He cautiously tip-toed around the corner of the house, noting that the lights in the living room were off and the curtains drawn. Taking a deep breath and bringing up all the courage he had in order to be able to deal with the inevitable yelling he’d have to endure, he knocked on the door. 

No response. 

He rung the doorbell and waited a couple minutes. 

Still nothing. 

Disappointed but also relieved, he slunk back round to where Henry was waiting and shook his head. 

“That sucks. Where are you going to go for the night?”

“I’m not sure,” Ted said. “Sometimes I sleep up on the roof since there’s a flat area, so I could probably do that.”

Henry’s eyes lit up. “Oh cool!” he said, before recovering himself and speaking in a less enthusiastic tone. “I used to spend a lot of time on my roof back home.”

Ted noticed the spark in his eyes and smiled. “Do you wanna come up with me? I could use some company…?”

Henry nodded and in one moment, the boy standing in front of Ted had transformed into, essentially, a tree. It reminded Ted of the ents from Lord of the Rings. 

In one swift motion, Henry lifted Ted up onto the roof of his house, before transforming into a ferret-type animal and launching himself at Ted, using his body like a fireman’s pole. Once safely on the roof, he transformed back into his regular human form - if you could call it that. 

Needless to say, Ted was stunned. “You can really transform into anything, huh?”

“Pretty well,” Henry said. Was he blushing? “I don’t do it often so I’m a little out of practice but, yeah, anything living. I tried a rock once and nearly suffocated.”

Ted snorted. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh at that.”

“It’s okay. It’s kinda funny.”

The boys sat and chatted for a few hours, legs swinging over the edge of the rooftop. Ted’s phone was dead, so he checked the time on his watch by moonlight. “It’s late.”

Henry nodded. “You don’t mind if I stay?”

“Not at all. Mum will probably never know.”

"So your mum… I'm guessing she doesn't like you?" 

"Not really, no. She pretended to when dad was around but once he was gone… She's tried to replace him, essentially, and all her boyfriends sucked. Some of them beat me up. Some of them were just plain gross. I'd always make sure they never came back, in whatever way I could. The last one was engaged to mum but then he'd had enough of me and just… left." Ted laughed bitterly. "So needless to say, she'd rather I wasn't around."

"Hey, at least you don't have long left? You're 17, right?" 

Ted nodded. "Just a couple more months."

Henry nudged his shoulder gently. "Hang in there. It's better when you can be alone."

"So you live alone?" 

Henry nodded. "Ever since I was ten. Family kinda… Pushed me out. They'd had enough."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ted asked quietly. 

"If it isn't a bother."

"Not at all," Ted said, drawing one leg up to his chest and wrapping his arms around it. "Do continue."

Henry sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly before he began. “They called me a monster. A mistake that never should’ve happened. They seemed to think it was my fault I’m this way.”

“You’re not a monster,” Ted said softly. “You’re amazing.”

Henry smiled bitterly. “That’s not what they thought. The teachers at school thought I was playing tricks on them, so I got suspended all the time. My family knew I couldn’t control it, not then, but they didn’t try to help or anything.

“Eventually, I got expelled. My dad tried to enrol me in other schools but word had got out that I was a ‘trouble kid’ and none of them would take me. One day, my dad bundled me into the car, dumped me out here and I’ve been alone since.”

“Sheesh. Your family’s definitely worse than mine.” 

“Yeah, well, at least I don’t have to deal with them.”

“Hen,” Ted began, “I’ve only just met you tonight and already I can tell you, you’re not a monster. You’re not anything they’ve called you.”

“Thanks, but really, you don’t have to lie.” 

Ted let his leg fall back over the edge of the roof. “Henry. Look at me.”

Reluctantly, Henry lifted his gaze from the street below to meet Ted’s.

“You’re not a monster. You’re friendly and funny and everything I could ask for in a friend.”

Henry looked surprised. “We’re… friends?”

“Of course,” Ted said simply. 

Ted saw a smile begin to creep across Henry’s face, the moonlight reflecting off the white of his teeth. In fact, now that he was paying attention, the moonlight was bathing Henry in glorious light so perfectly it was almost as if Henry was commanding it. It was strange that he hadn’t noticed before, but Henry was hella cute. His forehead was perfectly proportioned - not too big or small - and his hair fell across it, messy in the best kind of way. From side-on, Ted could see that Henry’s nose had been broken at some time or another from the little bump on the bridge, but other than that, it was perfect. A light dusting of freckles covered his entire face from hairline to chin and his bright eyes contrasted with the paleness of his skin, especially in that light. His eyes were the type that could draw you in, Ted realised, the amber attractive if only for the fact that it was so rare to see that eye colour on a day-to-day basis, if humans could even have that exact shade. They were attractive for other reasons too - Ted could see the joy that they contained, the warmth and sincerity that they were capable of. 

But most of all, it was Henry’s lips that came to his attention. They looked unbelievably soft, in the moonlight gaining a pale sheen. Without meaning to, he found himself fantasizing about leaning in a little closer, edging himself sideways on the roof in order to press his thigh against his, thinking about what would happen when Henry turned his head and their lips met-

 _Fuck_ , Ted thought. _So I’m gay, huh?_

Luckily (or was it unluckily?), Henry hadn’t seemed to notice and was now focusing on the horizon. “It’s nearly dawn,” he said sadly. 

“We should sleep. I mean, do you need sleep?” 

Henry laughed. “Unfortunately, yes. If I didn’t I’d be watching the sky every day through ‘til morning.”

Ted hummed in agreement then let out a gigantuous yawn. “I should really…”

“Yeah, same.”

Ted carefully scooted back from the edge of the roof and retrieved a cleverly-hidden plastic tub from behind the chimney. He took out a pillow and blanket and laid them out on the roof. 

“Sorry, there’s only one blanket, but I mean we can share…?”

“If you don’t mind.”

Ted sighed. “Henry, if I did, I’d have told you to fuck off by now. The fact that I’m asking means I really don’t mind, in fact, I’d probably like you to. You’re welcome to share my blanket.”

Henry shuffled over to Ted and hugged him, and while this was adorable and set Ted’s heart aflutter, it was the most uncomfortable hug in history, since they were both still sitting down. Still, he returned the hug and tried not to linger for too long. 

Once the two were snuggled under the blanket together, he felt a pang of guilt. Yes, he didn’t mind sharing a blanket with Henry, but only because he fancied him. If he thought of him as a friend, he still would’ve been fine with it, but perhaps not this enthusiastic. 

That guilt was gone, however, when Henry fell asleep some minutes later and in his sleep, turned over to hug Ted. He gladly leaned in and in moments was fast asleep. 

The following morning, he woke up to empty space beside him and birds chirping in the trees surrounding the house. He packed up his blanket and pillow and slid carefully down to his window ledge, then down to the ground. His mum’s car was gone, meaning she’d left for work already. He checked his watch. He’d have enough time to walk to school but was it really worth it, with nothing on him but a dead phone and yesterday’s clothes?

In the end, the idea of doing nothing, waiting outside all day to be let in the house was too unappealing and he set off for school.

It wasn’t until halfway through English that he remembered last night, the memories triggered by a conversation the two kids behind him were having about Bigfoot. Really? he thought. A shapeshifter called Henry? Did that really happen?

He quickly shoved the thought to the back of his mind as a quiz landed on his desk. He’d have time to think about it later, before his mother got home from work. 

Later, nearing his house after finishing school for the day, Ted figured that since he had time to kill before his mum got home, he’d go scout around where he had first, supposedly, met Henry, given the whole experience hadn’t been an elaborate fever dream. 

It was a bit difficult to retrace his steps, considering the light had been far different from this when he came yesterday, added to the fact that he hadn’t really been paying attention to where he was going anyway. 

Eventually, he managed to find his way back to the same clearing. There was a flattened patch of grass where Ted remembered sitting, but there didn’t seem to be one beside it, implying Henry hadn’t been there. He felt his heart drop a little and a heaviness set into his chest. 

He sat down and waited. He didn’t know how long for, whether it was minutes or hours. His only measurement was the faint tick of his watch and the slowly setting sun, the glare of the light filtering through the trees. He avoided checking his watch. If he knew how late it was, he’d have to go back. If his mother asked why he was late for the second night in a row, he could tell the truth and say he didn’t keep track of the time. Besides, this way, it was easier to ignore the fact that he’d been waiting for Henry for so long and that he still hadn’t showed up.

It got to the point where he couldn’t resist any longer. He flicked his wrist over. 7:15pm.

Reluctantly, he got up and began to walk away, taking slower steps at first, gradually returning to a regular pace. At the edge of the clearing he turned around, taking one last look, hoping against hope that it wasn’t all a dream. 

All he could see was grass and trees. No local cryptid. 

Heart heavy and threatening to drop right out of his body, he turned back around and continued on his way out of the forest. 

“Wait!”

He saw a movement to his left and spun around, automatically pressing his back to a nearby tree. 

Out of the shadows shone a familiar pair of eyes. 

Ted grinned and stepped forward, arms open. Henry cautiously walked into the hug, letting Ted wrap his arms around his back. Ted pulled back, still loosely holding onto Henry’s shirt. Before he could overthink anything, he leaned forward and kissed him.

Henry’s lips were just as soft as he imagined. 

He pulled back again and was about to apologise when he saw the warmth in Henry’s eyes. Instead, he opted to explain. “I thought I’d had some weird dream and that you weren’t actually real.”

“And that’s why you kissed me?”

“Well. For a second there I was sure I’d made you up. I needed to make sure I hadn’t,” he said, avoiding eye contact. “I’m sure of it because I could never imagine a kiss that good.”

Henry huffed, embarrassed, and pulled Ted back into a hug. Ted tucked his head into the crook of Henry’s neck and felt the vibrations as he spoke. 

“I just… I never expected to have a first kiss.”

“Is that because of the whole ‘monster’ thing?” Ted said quietly into his chest.

Henry swallowed and nodded, his chin bumping into the top of Ted’s head. 

“Hen,” Ted began, then extricated himself from Henry’s grip and rested their foreheads together before continuing, “You’re not a monster. You may have the body from a fucking sci-fi movie, but you have the heart of a human. You’re perfect the way you are.”

Henry smiled, leaning in closer so that their noses touched. “Thank you,” he said softly. 

“You’re welcome,” Ted replied.

“Are you going home now?”

“I mean… Whereabouts do you live?”

Henry quirked an eyebrow. “You want to move in already?”

Ted laughed gently, trying not to jostle Henry so much that their heads knocked together. “I mean, I want to move out and I feel like you’d be happy to have a housemate…?”

Henry grinned. “I’d love to. I’ve got a little cottage further in the woods that was abandoned a few years back. Some old dude lived there but then he died. I’ve been scaring off everyone who’s come near since by pretending to be his ghost.”  
“Oh! That makes so much more sense now.”

Henry snorted. “What do you mean?”

“When I first came here there was a tall dude who told me to leave before ‘he’ came. Seemed pretty shook up about it. I just thought he was being a troll and trying to get me off his property or something.”

Henry laughed, then leaned in for another kiss. Ted cupped his hand around the back of his neck to stop him from pulling away and pulled him back in, again and again and again. 

Needless to say, they didn’t leave to go to Henry’s cottage until late that night, once the stars were shining over their little forest once again.


End file.
